A Spring Before Spring
by Scarlet as a Ground Cherry
Summary: Youmu's ghost half is restless, wishing to watch cherry blossoms bloom, but it's not the season for it. How will she overcome it? Drabble written for a friend's prompt.


Tug, tug.

"Myon?" Youmu was about to turn around to glance at her ghost half when it floated in front of her, still giving her that nagging, tugging feeling. Like there was something it wanted her to do, yet she had no idea what it was. Wordless as always, it began drifting off somewhere, and as Youmu didn't know what it wanted, she could only follow.

Before long it had led her to the Saigyou Ayakashi. The tree was constant, looking all the same whether it be summer, fall, winter, or spring. It was a pity that the great tree would never blossom, as she had been told since she was little that it was a sight to see. But Youmu had been born after its last flowering, and so would never know. But why was Myon showing her this? Everyone knew that it would not be blooming, and that information was nothing special. She gave her phantom half a strange look, still confused.

The ghost drifted up, up along the tree trunks, along the branches, stopping at the end of a particularly long branch, silent, a pose that said it was waiting expectantly. As if it wanted her to say something, find out what its wordless postures meant.

"It won't bloom," she said aloud, "not even in spring, both you and I know."

Her ghost half made a gesture, akin to a nod.

"There won't be cherry blossoms."

A spiral movement.

"But you still want to see it bloom?"

Another nod.

"There's nothing I can do about it, though…"

A twirling sort of gesture, circling eagerly around one of the Saigyou Ayakashi's branches. The ghost, once completing this notion, drifted back down to Youmu's side, taking its usual place floating and residing beside her. At that point, the gardener had to conclude that Myon must have wanted to see the cherry blossoms bloom. Yet, it obviously wasn't blooming season, nor was it even summer.

Which meant that she would probably have to find another way to "show" her phantom half the blooming cherry blossoms. But with the Saigyou Ayakashi never to bloom again and it not being the proper season, what could she really do? Myon would still be restless.

Sure,she could go down to the living world and buy a batch of fake flowers or something, but that was like missing the point. Her ghost half was smart enough to realize the flowers wasn't real, and doing that was more like a cheap trick than anything else

Youmu just didn't have much to work with. An idea would be to use the sakura petals Yuyuko usually kept for medicinal reasons, ones she would give to Reisen on her occasional medicinal visits. It was better than nothing, though.

The half spirit headed toward one of the ghost princess' storage areas, usually stocked with food or herbs that would cure her common stomachaches. How a ghost could eat so much without gaining weight was almost beyond Youmu's knowledge, but how she could still get stomachaches was an even bigger mystery.

Once she had reached said building, Myon wordlessly following her and acting patient, Youmu rummaged around a bit before finding the store of never-wilting cherry blossom flowers and petals. Just this once, it should be alright to use some. Looking at the ghost, which made no movement that could mean disagreement, she took a couple of the flowers, and, not knowing what she was supposed to do next, decided to get some of the twine on the counter she could make an attempt at a flower crown for the ghost.

Not being skilled with this type of thing (her all-hours job left little time for such recreation), Youmu fumbled with the flowers and twine before managing to make a messy little wreath of them. Hardly worth giving awards for, but perhaps it would do. Perhaps.

The half phantom placed the handmade crown onto Myon; it was a bit loose but seemed to fit fine. "See, these flowers don't wilt," she told it, "so then it's like they're always blooming. I hope that was what you wanted," Youmu muttered, though at least the ghost seemed to be content with such a gift. Twirling around cheerfully, the flower crown not falling off, for some reason, even when the phantom spiraled upside down. At least it was satisfied, in its own way.

"Perhaps some flowers can still bloom after all."


End file.
